“‘I suppose I’m just a glutton for punishment,” Lucy said to the goose nibbling the bread on the ground in front of her. “I should get up and do something with my life.” She sighed, sinking back down into her seat.
Unable to help herself, she had come back to the place where she and Mateo often met up. As she sat at the bench they shared, she thought of the magical kiss and his promise that everything would work out. Her hope that he was right, was overpowered by her sense of helplessness at the situation.
“Why did Principal Grimm have to choose now to leave?” She asked the same goose. A small flap of its wings was her only answer. Despair settled into her. “I don’t know how to fix this.”
“Hello my Goose Girl.” Mateo’s deep voice flowed over Lucy’s ear and sent a tingle straight down her spine.
She spun around, taking in the sight of the handsome man. Dressed in his work clothes, he wore a red collared shirt with black dress pants. His shoes were shined and his hair slicked back. His neatly trimmed goatee looked just as polished as the rest of him. Lucy was momentarily speechless, before remembering that this good looking specimen wasn’t hers.
Whipping her head forward, she said, “I didn’t realize you were coming today.”
Mateo walked around the bench and Lucy thought he looked more confident than usual. He sat down, leaving only an inch between them. Trying to be subtle, Lucy scooted over a bit, knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist him if he sat so close.
With a small grin, Mateo followed her, completely closing the gap. His body was twisted in her direction and he rested one arm behind her on the back of the bench. Leaning in, he began nuzzling around below her ear with his nose.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He whispered.
“Oh!” His touch caught Lucy off guard, before creating a pleasant warmth in her belly. “W-what are you doing?” She stammered.
“Uh, uh. I asked first.” He used his hand to move her hair away from her neck, giving him more skin to work with.
“I, uh, nowhere. I just ... ” She couldn’t concentrate and her explanation died as he started leaving small kisses along the base of her neck.
“Mmmm. You smell good,” he hummed against her neck.
The vibration of his lips wreaked havoc against the sensitive skin under her ear and she heard a ragged sigh escape her mouth. “Mateo, I lo—” What am I doing? Suddenly realizing what she had been about to confess, Lucy jumped off the bench and out of his reach. “We can’t do this!”
Quick as a flash, Mateo grabbed her hand before she could move too far, keeping her from completely leaving. “Oh yes we can.”
“You’re still with Lillith. You have to stay with her, give her more time.” It physically hurt Lucy’s heart to speak those words, but until she knew her job was safe, there was no alternative.
“Lillith and I are over.” Mateo soothed.
“What!” Lucy shouted. “Oh no...no, no, no.” She ran her free hand through her hair. “What happened?”
Mateo let go of her hand and leaned back against the bench. Shrugging his shoulders, he spoke in a calm voice. “She decided she couldn’t live with my financial situation.”
Lucy stopped moving. “What financial situation?” Her eyebrows scrunched together and she studied the expression on his face.
“She may be under the impression that I lost my wealth recently.” He put his hands up in a shrug and raised his eyebrows.
A grin pulled at Lucy’s lips. “And did you? Lose your wealth?”
Mateo stood, walking over to her. Crowding her space, he looked down and whispered hoarsely, “Would it matter if I did?”
Lucy slowly shook her head. “Not one tiny bit.”
That’s all it took for Mateo to pull her in the rest of the way. Crushing her to him, they poured out their emotions through their actions. Lucy’s arms wound around his neck and her fingers dove into his thick, silky hair. Mateo held the back of her head, guiding her where he wanted her, while his other held her waist, pulling her in as close as possible.
Lucy rejoiced in the safety and warmth he offered, letting it banish all the doubts and concerns that had so recently plagued her. When his lips went back down to her neck she managed to stutter, “When did you figure it all out?”
Mateo pulled his head back, looking her in the eye. “After the barbecue. Ruby mentioned where you worked and suddenly it clicked. As weird as the circumstances were, it made sense. I felt the same draw to you as I did to the emails, but had felt nothing of that with Lillith. She seemed the exact opposite of how I pictured you.” He leaned in for another quick kiss.
“I’m sorry I had to push you away, Lillith threatened—”
Mateo took her lips again, cutting her off. “I know,” he said after pulling back. “Ruby told me all about it.”
Lucy jerked back. “She what? I trusted her! That little—”
Once again Mateo cut her off. This time, he took his time convincing her that being mad wasn’t worth it. When the kiss finally ended he kept his forehead against hers. “If she hadn’t been willing to deceive you, we wouldn’t be standing her right now.”
Lucy smiled ruefully. “I suppose I’ll have to thank her then. And you apparently. But are you sure Lillith won’t still try to get my job?”
Mateo opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an all too familiar voice.
“Just as I thought.”
Lucy jerked back at the pitchy sound, but Mateo held on, refusing to let her go. “Lillith, what are you doing here?”
“I thought you losing your money was a little too convenient. You hadn’t text all week, only to suddenly take me to dinner and have no money.” She tsk’d her tongue. “So, I came to see for myself and I was right.” Her smirk was triumphant, but anger radiated from her.
“How did you know where I was?” Lucy asked.
Lillith rolled her eyes. “Everybody at the school knows of your penchant for those nasty things.” She waved an arm toward the swimming geese. “It was a lucky guess that Mateo would meet you here.”
“And what are you planning to do about it?” Mateo’s voice had gone hard, all gentleness from his and Lucy’s earlier exchange had vanished.
“Exactly what I said I would do.” Lillith sniffed. “I’m going to take the job Principal Grimm promised me and it just so happens that fourth grade is my favorite level.” With a sneer, she turned and began walking back towards the street.
“Hold up there, Ms. Gresham.” Another voice rang across the park and all three heads swiveled in its direction.
Ruby came strolling down the sidewalk, a tall, muscular, golden-haired man at her side. “I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.” Plopping herself down on the bench, she crossed one leg over the other and pulled out her phone. After pressing a few buttons, she looked around. “Doesn’t everyone want to hear?” She waved her arms. “Come on, gather round crew.”
Lillith narrowed her eyes and cautiously stepped in Ruby’s direction, stopping several feet away.
Mateo turned Lucy out of his arms, then put an arm over her shoulders and tucked her into his side.
The blonde giant stood behind the bench, his arms folded and his attention wandering to the trees and shrubbery surrounding them.
“I quote; teaching summer school this year. Ugh. Work never ends.” Ruby scrolled down, then started again. “I hate teaching here, the staff is so boring and nobody knows how to dress properly.”
Lucy looked at Ruby, trying to figure out what was going on. At a sudden movement, her eyes darted to Lillith, whose face had gone even more pale than usual. Her jaw was clenched and she was reaching over to snatch the phone from Ruby.
Suddenly, the stranger grabbed her wrist. “I don’t think so,” he said, his tone dark and hard.
Pinching her lips, Lillith yanked her arm back. “You have no right to read those,” she snapped.
“You put them on social media. The whole world has the right to read them.” Ruby wiggled her phone at Lillith before going back to the screen. “Looks like my lucky day! Met a hot guy who happened to be looking for someone else. Now I’ve got his attention. Winky face.” Once again Ruby scrolled. ‘Ah, here is my personal favorite. Again, I quote, ‘Tossed my boyfriend to the curb last night. He can no longer take care of my needs. Guess he can go back to the pathetic girl he was looking for in the first place.’ Or how about, ‘Have decided to work at this school full time. Now, how to get one of the other teacher’s out? The Principal is out of town for awhile. Plenty of time to cause a scandal ... for somebody else. Lol.’ “
“You can’t be serious!” Lucy said. Her eyes were wide and she could feel herself trembling. Mateo pulled her in tighter, wrapping his other arm around her, as if to offer support. “How could you do something like that? You lied to Mateo, to me ... to everybody! What’s wrong with you?” Lucy’s face was scrunched in disgust and she shook her head back and forth.
Lillith straightened her shoulders and threw her hair over her shoulders. “It’s not that big of a deal. People do it all the time.”
“Trying to create a problem to get someone fired is done all the time?” Lucy’s voice had risen and she started to walk towards Lillith.
Mateo pulled her back and rubbed his hands down her arms. Leaning in, he whispered in her ear. “Let her go. She obviously has no leverage to hurt you. Just let her go.”
Lucy calmed at his words. “You’re right.” She turned over her shoulder and gave him a weak smile. Facing Lillith again, she dismissed her. “If I never see you again, it will be too soon.”
“Oh look.” Ruby piped up. “I can screenshot all these posts, so that no one can deny they existed and decide to cause trouble. What a neat feature!”
Lillith growled, her lip curling at the edge before turning and stomping down the sidewalk.
Once she was gone, Lucy turned and wrapped her arms around Mateo’s middle, hugging him tight. He returned the gesture, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
“Well, Lumberjack, I think our work here is done.” Ruby jumped up from the bench and went to stand beside her companion.
Pulling out of Mateo’s embrace, Lucy walked over to Ruby and grabbed her in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Anytime,” Ruby whispered back as they embraced. Standing straight she said, “Oh yeah.” Jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “This is Derek Woodsman. He’s the director of The Center. The one Rory and Steven volunteer at.”
“Hello.” Lucy stuck out her hand. The man was big, as big as Nash, their school football coach. She felt tiny next to him and her hand felt swamped by his large one. “I’m sorry about all the drama you had to witness today. I promise we aren’t usually quite so crazy.”
Mateo reached around and shook Derek’s hand as well. “Good to meet you.” Mateo said.
Derek nodded and said, “Likewise,” in a quiet tone.
His eyes were continually straying to the surrounding area and Lucy couldn’t help but feel that he was looking for someone. Glancing around herself, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Looking back, she studied Ruby next to Derek. He appeared as ease, but Lucy could see his muscles were tightly coiled, as if he was ready to spring into action at any moment.
“Well, we gotta get going. Maybe we’ll meet up with you another time.” Ruby waved and started to back away.
“Is everything okay?” Lucy asked, worry suddenly enveloping her as she watched Derek standing watch over Ruby.
Ruby only nodded, a small smile on her face.
“Is this ... is this who you met online?” Lucy asked before Ruby could escape further.
“Oh! No. Derek and I met at Piper’s barbecue.” Her creamy cheeks suddenly carried a pink tone. “That other guy didn’t work out, like I said before.” She grinned. “At least there’s one success story from that stupid site, huh?” With that, she and Derek walked quickly out of the park.
Mateo came up behind Lucy and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin against her temple. “I’m glad that’s over. But did you get the feeling that something was up with that Derek guy and Ruby?”
Lucy nodded. “He almost seemed like he was protecting her, but from what? Surely he didn’t think Lillith was a real threat. She might make trouble behind the scenes, but she wouldn’t outright attack someone.”
“No ... it wasn’t Lillith he was worried about. At least, I don’t think so. He hardly gave her a second glance.” Mateo scrunched his lips to the side. “Should we try to pry it out of her?”
Lucy crossed her arms over his, enjoying the cocoon he had created around her. “No. If I get the chance I’ll try asking again, but it was obvious neither one of them wanted us involved.”
Mateo nodded. “Fair enough.” He spun Lucy around so she was facing him. “I’m sorry the drama wasn’t over like I thought it was.” He grinned sheepishly. “At least now we know it’s over for sure. If she causes any trouble we have all the evidence we need to handle it.”
Lucy grinned, “Even Lillith isn’t that crazy.” Lucy ran her fingers through Mateo’s hair, enjoying the feel of the dark, silky strands. “I’m just glad it’s over now. I wasn’t sure how I was going to stay away from you until Principal Grimm got back. And I was also worried Lillith would have stolen your heart during that time.”
Mateo gave an exaggerated shudder. “Uh, no. I’ve never been into women who prefer my money over me. That’s one of the reasons I joined that dating site. I was trying to find someone who didn’t see dollar signs when they looked at me.” He leaned down for a quick kiss. “I love you Lucy. I think I fell in love with you the first time you argued about Captain America being better than Superman.”
Lucy blinked rapidly as her vision filled with tears. “I love you too,” she whispered around the lump in her throat. “Your emails made me feel alive and wanted and I was completely shattered when I thought Lillith would get you instead of me.” She buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent and reveling in the feel of his arms around her; strong and steady.
Mateo kissed her head, then reached up, using his hands to pull her face from his shoulder. His eyes roamed her face, memorizing every line and plane. “My goose girl,” he finally whispered, before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own.